


Wait for me at the gates of your castle in the air

by Marguerite_Thian



Category: Little Women Series - Louisa May Alcott, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Little Women, Angst, Darcy Lewis is Tony Stark's Daughter, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/M, Major character death - Freeform, No happy ending here sorry, Please Don't Hate Me, Tony Stark Has A Heart, and she is very very very sorry, and we all saw that coming, but offscreen and nothing graphic though, the author does not know what she is doing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:28:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21999748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marguerite_Thian/pseuds/Marguerite_Thian
Summary: Everyone assumed he would marry Nat. His grandfather, her sisters. But he never loved her: not that way. He'd only ever loved her sister, but he knew, he knew, whatever little bit of hope left was gone, forever.
Relationships: Amy March/Fred Vaughn, Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers, John Brooke/Margaret March, Josephine March/Friedrich Bhaer, Margaret "Marmee" March/Robert March, Natasha Romanoff/Bruce Banner, Peggy Carter/Daniel Sousa, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Theodore Laurence/Elizabeth March, Wanda Maximoff/Vision
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	Wait for me at the gates of your castle in the air

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so sorry, guys. This was a spur-of-the-moment thing that just sort of fitted the image. Also Laurie/Beth is the only non-canon ship concerning Laurie I will accept. Full stop.
> 
> Here's a list of the characters:  
> Steve - Laurie. Just because.  
> Darcy - Beth. Duh.  
> Peggy - Meg. For obvious-ass reasons. Also because Peggy is the only person I can imagine as the elder sister. And also because of the brown hair.  
> Sousa - John. Try to pry Peggysous from my cold, dead little hands. I dare you.  
> Pepper - Marmee. Obviously? Who else is suited for this role? Melinda May?  
> Tony - Mr March. I mean, it's pretty self-explanatory. Pepperony is my aesthetic. Sue me.  
> Nat - Jo. I'm not even sure why. Probably because Bruce is totally Fritz. And out off spite for Romanogers. I have my reasons.  
> Bruce - Fritz. This is probably more self-explanatory than Tony.  
> Wanda - Amy. Idk. Maybe cos she's a little bit more of a brat than others? I went with my intuition for most of this.  
> Vision - Fred Vaughn. I literally see no similarities between these two except for them being British (or in Vision's case, speaks with a received pronunciation). But WANDAVISION.  
> Bucky - Mr Laurence. I've been trying to place him in here and thought, they're both "James". That's some sort of connection.
> 
> This is set somewhere after Aunt March died and Amy married Fred. Because I like to mess with canon.

It's unusually quiet at the Stark's. It's such an unsettling thing. It's almost never quiet at the nunnery. But here they are. Mrs Sousa is sitting on the sofa, Daisy's little fists in her hair, her face hidden in the little girl's smock. Demi is sitting silently in Dan's laps, whose expression is strict as ever, which is not surprising, but his mouth is pressed into a thin line, his eyes wet with unshed tears. Madam Mother is on the sofa, next to Peggy, head rested on her daughter's shoulder, too tired to cry. Nat is in the easy-chair, Professor Banner bending over her, softly petting her hair, in hopes of offering comfort. Wanda's still in Rome, with Vision, and should receive the letter in a week. And Mr Stark - Mr Stark is in Darcy's little sofa, sobbing into her pillow with her half-finished embroidery.

Grandpa tightens his grip on Steve's shoulder and jerks his chin towards Mrs Stark.

Madam Mother stands to beckon him in, and Peggy finally looks up from Daisy's bib, and if her red-timed eyes are anything to go by, it's already happened.

He turns to Dan imploringly, and the single tear that slides down his former tutor's cheek onto Demi's curly head is answer enough.

Mrs Stark guides him to the sofa and whispers, 'She's in her room. Do sit,' before picking up the black wreath from the table and waking away.

It's almost unbelievable; cheerful, happy little Darcy, who's too good for God to possibly want to take her away so soon: but as it seems God has a human side. He who gently plucked the prettiest flower from her calm little flowerbed; He who heartlessly took the last breath of the little child from the life she deserved so much to live.

Esther and the Hummels come over shortly after, the former who presses a miniature of Christ into Mrs Stark's trembling palms and whispers 'Mademoiselle had been such a sweet creature, God rest her soul!' Lotty tearfully goes up to Darcy's room, and Steve admires her strength: he had not courage enough to see her just yet, pale, limp and lifeless in her little bed, quiet forevermore.

Lotty comes down at last, her black dress, to long for her, trailing behind. Nat tilts her head, telling him to go up to see her, even for the last time. He silently obliges, as Grandpa gives him a small nod off encouragement, and softly ascends the stairs.

Darcy's exactly how he's expected her to look like: calm, at peace. He doesn't quite know what to do. He'd loved her since he'd seen her at the piano, so content, so full of unaffected joy. He thought she'd get better; dear God, they all did. He thought he could give her the happiness she deserved. He thought he had at least some hope of being truly happy, of spending the rest of his life with the girl he'd loved for so long. But now it's all gone, fate grasping and crushing it to bits as if it were made of glass.

He sits down next to her, glances at her serene face and turns away. Tears cloud his vision, grief blocks his mind. He loves her, he loves her so much, so much. He thinks of when she promises to wait for him when she reaches the gate to the castle in the sky.

He turns to her again.

She'll wait for him there, won't she?

* * *

It's quiet at Sleepy Hollow. It's expected, really. You can't really expect a cemetery to be otherwise. They bury her, and Steve gives her a little bouquet of daisies, amongst them a letter. When Mr Stark gives him the funeral card, he merely takes it quietly and thinks, 'Wait for me, Darcy, wait for me.' 

Mr Stark pulls him aside when they get home and gives him a hug. 'I'm sorry, dear. She would have been so lucky to have you. You're still one of us, you know. Stay for tea?'

He bites his bottom lip and shakes his head, almost wistfully. 'I'll like some time alone, please, Mr Stark. But - '

'It's alright, dear. Go home and rest. Remember, we're all here. Go.'

* * *

He goes off to meet Wanda and Vision in Bath. Wanda paints him a miniature of Darcy for his mother's locket. Vision gives him a room in the house and they go riding everyday. Vision doesn't know Darcy all that well and it helps him a lot. He almost feels alive when he leaves Bath, but there's a part of him gone along with Darcy, buried six feet under at Sleepy Hollow.

* * *

He's standing near one of Scotland's many abandoned castles, Darcy's miniature in his palms. He glances across the moors and whispers, almost as if she's standing next to him, 'Wait for me, love, wait for me.'

**Author's Note:**

> If you're wondering why Morgan wasn't in here, I actually came up with this shortly before Endgame came out, so I watched it before I could write this and I sort of needed time to recover from the trauma, so here we are.
> 
> If you're on [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/marguerite-thian), I'm super friendly. If you're not on Tumblr, I'm still super friendly and we should be friends. Before my awkwardness scares you away, but still.


End file.
